


Welcome to the Good Place

by PsychoLynx



Category: Parks and Recreation, The Good Place (TV)
Genre: Afterlife, Alternate Universe, F/M, Fake Soulmates, Soulmates, The Bad Place
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:35:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 8,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21929821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PsychoLynx/pseuds/PsychoLynx
Summary: Ben did not anticipate dying (then again, who does?), but what he really didn't anticipate was to arrive in the afterlife to discover that his life was a lie. Things only get worse when he discovers that his afterlife is a lie as well. Now, Ben must navigate the afterlife and the looming threats behind its pristine neighborhoods.
Relationships: Ben Wyatt & Micheal (The Good Place), Ben Wyatt/Real Eleanor Shellstrop | Vicky, Leslie Knope/Ben Wyatt
Comments: 6
Kudos: 31





	1. Welcome to the Good Place

Ben opened his eyes and mumbled the words on the wall. 

“Welcome! Everything is fine.” 

He looked around the room, not knowing where he was. Despite this, he still believed the words on the wall. 

Ben heard the door open and saw a silver haired man in a blue summer suit and bow tie. 

“Hello, Ben, come on in.” 

Ben got up and followed the man. 

“Hey,” Ben began “I don’t quite remember how I got here.” 

“About that,” Micheal sat down “What I’m trying to say come as a shock, but you, Ben Wyatt, are dead. Your life on Earth has ended, and you are now in the next phase of your existence in the universe.” 

Ben stared for a moment “What? How did I?” He started to stammer “When did I? I mean...What?” 

“I understand this is a lot to process, but we remove the memory of dying in the case of traumatic or embarrassing deaths. You, Ben, were shot.” 

Ben stared. 

“Yes,”--Micheal opened up a file--“that is the usual reaction. It says here that a home invader went to rob the place unaware that anyone was home, saw you, then panicked.” 

Ben’s heart rate rose “Leslie! Is Leslie okay?” 

“Your wife is okay.” 

Ben sighed. 

“She is still alive on earth, and you are, right now, in The Good Place." 

Ben blinked "That implies there is a Not Good Place." 

"A Bad Place does exist, but you don't need to worry about that. Each Good Place neighborhood has 200 people in it. This one only has 198. Those last two positions will be taken by your wife and her soulmate once he dies.” 

Ben nodded before the last part registered “Did you say my wife’s soulmate?” 

“Yes.” 

“My wife,” Ben stammered “Will find someone else...then come here.” 

“Ben,” Micheal leaned in “This is often the hardest part about the afterlife for married persons in your situation to grasp, but you and your wife were not soulmates. Your soulmate is waiting for you at your house.” 

“At my house,” Ben nodded, trying to process the information he’d been given. 

“We like to keep soulmates separate until things click. Would you like to meet her?” 

\- 

Ben’s house looked just like he and Leslie’s home. All their furniture was there, all his things, but nothing of hers. 

And it burned. 

All of this felt wrong. Ben knew that there had to be some kind of mistake. 

Ben was only pulled out of things by Micheal pulling him aside. “Before you meet Vicky, I want to know about Janet.” 

Ben ran his hand through his hair “I swear, if you tell me she was the runner up--” 

“No, no, nothing like that. Hey, Janet!” 

A brown haired woman in purple stewardess clothes appeared with a ping. 

“Hi, I’m Janet,” the woman smiled “I’m here to assist you with anything you need.” 

“Yeah, thanks,” Ben mumbled. 

Micheal pat Ben’s back “You can call on Janet anytime. Until then, we’re gonna let you meet your real soulmate.” 

Ben heard another ping accompanied by footsteps as a door closing. 

Ben sat down on the couch and put his head in his hands. Ben let himself cry. He didn’t care what anyone said: there was no way anybody but Leslie could be his soulmate. 

“Hello?” 

Ben looked up to see a black haired woman with tan skin in the doorframe to he and Leslie’s room. 

“I’m sorry, I…” Ben trailed off “Are you Vicky?” 

“Yes,” Vicky came closer “They told me you were married. I was too.” 

Ben perked up “You were?” 

“Yes, my husband was named Ravi. I understand the shock this may be.” 

“You seem to be taking it well.” 

“I died in 2009, so I’ve had some time,”--she sat herself next to Ben-- “But it's easier knowing that I wound up with him because he was nearby. Just like you and your wife.” 

“I actually chose to stay in her town for her.” 

“I see,” Vicky readjusted herself and stiffened up. 

“I’m sorry,” Ben went to put his hand on Vicky’s shoulder. 

“You don’t have to. I know you don’t love me yet.” 

“I’m sorry if--” 

“No, no, don’t apologize. You just got here. I’ve been waiting for you here. I don’t expect you to accept me, but you will,” she smiled “We’re soulmates.” 

\- 

“This is going great,” Micheal said to Vicky in his office “He’s feeling guilty because he’s betraying Leslie, and he feels guilty because he’s betraying you by not betraying Leslie,”--Micheal clapped and spun around-- “This cannot be more perfect.” 

Vicky crossed her arms “That is what you said the last 400-whatever times. There is no way Shawn approved this number of trials.” 

“Well, he did,”--Micheal pointed his finger awkwardly-- “he did, and he said that we were all doing a great job, and he said that the wrong soulmate plan would work this time because we aren’t going to introduce a fake Leslie for him to realize is fake, and--” 

“He didn’t approve this!” Vicky rose. 

Micheal froze “What?” 

“I overheard you talking to Shawn after the fake Leslie disaster in the first trial, and he told you to just wait for the real one to come along.” 

“He changed his mind.” 

“The only thing Shawn changes his mind about his what he’s ordering at a restaurant so he has an excuse to torture the waiter,”--Vicky approached Micheal-- “He has no idea about any of this, does he?” 

Micheal’s weird human suit began to ooze water “He doesn’t!” 

Once it came out, Micheal felt a weight off of his shoulders. 

“We’re going to keep it that way,” Vicky grimaced. 

“We are,” Micheal smiled, “You’re going to help me with this so that it doesn’t fail, so that I don’t get retired?” 

“I’ll do you one better than helping; I’ll be running this from now on.” 

“You can’t run this; you’re playing yourself with Ben.” 

Vicky became tense as she sucked air in through her nose “For the last time, I’m not playing myself; I just ran out of names I liked.”--she took a deep breath-- “You will be in the office doing your stuff, but I will be running this bench until I earn enough street cred to make my own neighborhood. Are we clear?” 

Micheal nodded. 

Vicky turned to leave but stopped at the door “And by the way, Micheal, in my neighborhood, we won’t be making chit chat with the humans.” 

Vicky left and let the door shut itself behind her. 

“Janet,” Micheal heard a ping “Could you get me one of those hard alcohols but softer and fruity?’ 

“So a Shirly Temple?” 

“Yes, one of those.” 

Janet pinged Micheal a chilled Shirly Temple.


	2. Welcome to the Bad Place

Ben laid alone in a bed meant for two. He still found himself sleeping on his side of the bed after two weeks. He supposed that this was how Leslie felt back on earth. 

_Unless she met her soulmate at my funeral._

__He heard a knock at his door and sighed._ _

___Vicky.__ _

___He rolled himself out of bed and took a moment to marvel how it remade itself._ _ _

___He made his way to the door and took a deep breath before opening it. There was no avoiding her. He swung the door open._ _ _

___“Micheal?” Ben said as he opened the door._ _ _

___“Is this a bad time?” Micheal slid in between glances around him “I need your help with something.”_ _ _

___“No, I was awake anyway.”_ _ _

___Micheal made his way to the couch and sat down “I, uh, I…” Micheal had thought a thousand times on how to word it, but still couldn’t articulate himself “You worked in government, correct?”_ _ _

___“Yeah.”_ _ _

___“What did you do when you had supervisors breathing down your neck?”_ _ _

___“Well,”--Ben sat down next to Micheal-- “I would assess the situation, make a plan, gather the necessary people--”_ _ _

___“And what if we can’t to the necessary people part of that plan? What if, hypothetically, we can’t let anyone know that something went wrong without being forced into retirement?”_ _ _

___Ben’s eyes widened, “What did you do?”_ _ _

___“This isn’t my first attempt at designing a neighborhood.”_ _ _

___“I sure hope it’s not.”_ _ _

___“The previous four hundred or so failed, and I just want this to be right so badly.”_ _ _

___“Back on earth,” Ben swallowed, still not used to saying that “Leslie and I always had a plan that never went right, but we always made it through.” Ben began to cry out of nowhere._ _ _

___“Don’t cry. None of this is your fault, Ben.”_ _ _

___“I can’t just be expected to give up Leslie.”_ _ _

___“I know,” Micheal put his hand on Ben’s shoulder._ _ _

___“I’m just gonna wait for her. I’m gonna lock myself in here and ignore Vicky and--”_ _ _

___“Ben,” Micheal cut off “Janet!”_ _ _

___Janet pinged into the room._ _ _

___“I need both of you in the room for this,” Micheal pat Ben’s shoulder “Janet!”_ _ _

___“Hi.”_ _ _

___“Can you get Ben a scotch?”_ _ _

___A scotch appeared with a ping._ _ _

___“I really shouldn’t--”_ _ _

___“You’re in The Bad Place,” Micheal spat out, sounding less empathetic than intended._ _ _

___Ben grabbed the scotch._ _ _

___-_ _ _

___“You lied to me,” Ben snapped before trying to take a sip of scotch, only to discover it was gone “Janet!”_ _ _

___“Still here.”_ _ _

___“I need another drink, no, I need a bottle, no, I need snakejuice.”_ _ _

___“I am advising against that last one.”_ _ _

___“Then…” Ben put his head into his hands “How are you not freaking out about this Janet?”_ _ _

___“I am, I just keep most of my emotions trapped in my Void.”_ _ _

___Ben sighed “You lied to me?”_ _ _

___“I’m not lying now.”_ _ _

___Ben stared “Does Vicky know?”_ _ _

___“Vicky is a demon assigned to torture you.” Micheal turned to Janet and signaled the drinking motion. Janet responded by pinging a drink._ _ _

___“I’m just trapped here for eternity. Then Leslie is going to be trapped here for eternity with me.”_ _ _

___Micheal handed Ben the drink “We were actually going to introduce a fake Leslie.”_ _ _

___“What did I do to deserve an entire neighborhood of people devoted to torturing me?” Ben gulped the drink “Is being an auditor _that _much of a sin?”___ _ _

___“It’s not about sinning and not sinning. The entire afterlife system is based around the idea that every good action gives you points and every bad one takes some away. There are other people here, Ben, and, the more I see of all the humans, the more I think something is wrong with this system.”_ _ _

___“So what do I do? Can I appeal or petition or run or--”_ _ _

___“Run.”_ _ _

___Ben froze “Is that a warning?”_ _ _

___“No,” Micheal perked up “There might actually be somewhere I can take you. It would only be temporary, but you’d be safe. Janet!”_ _ _

___“Still here.”_ _ _

___“Oh, sorry,” Micheal turned to look up at her “Can you hail a train?”_ _ _

___Janet blinked hard and a ping was heard “It will be here in fifteen minutes.”_ _ _

___“Thank you.”_ _ _

___Janet pinged herself away._ _ _

___“Ben, I need you to pack your stuff and meet me at the train station in fifteen minutes.”_ _ _

___“I have no stuff and don’t know where that is.”_ _ _

___“Oh, right,” Micheal looked at his watch “Then I would like you to walk with me to the train station...about now.”_ _ _


	3. Welcome to the Medium Place

Ben had transitioned from anger to a fog pretty quickly. He barely even registered that the train had stopped. 

“We’re here,” Micheal said with an awkward, fatherly pat on Ben’s shoulder. 

Ben rose and found himself in a desert that was exactly one degree hotter than was comfortable. 

“Mindy’s house should be this way,” Janet said as she led the way “She is the only resident here in the Medium Place. She’ll be willing to help us.” 

“You’ve been here before?” 

“No,” Janet replied, keeping her usual smile “No Janet has.” 

“No Janet?” Ben walked faster to keep up, a difficult task with his lack of sleep and second drink “You say that like you're a species not a person.” 

“I’m not a person.” 

“You’re just a robot woman or something?” 

“Not a robot, or a girl. I’m Janet.” 

“Thanks for clearing things up,” Ben said sarcastically. A beat “I think I see her house.” 

Ben knew he did not have the clearest head, but it almost looked like Mindy was… 

“Ahhh!” Mindy screamed as she pulled sunflowers over her boobs. 

\- 

“I’m sorry about that,” Mindy said as she buttoned her teal jacket “I’m not used to visitors.” 

“Sorry to barge in like this, Mindy. We just needed out of the Bad Place for long enough to come up with a plan.” 

“You don’t have a plan,” Ben blurted out. He sighed as he leaned his head back. 

“I wanted to make sure I got to you before Vicky kissed you which, by the way, she planned on doing after surprising you with a terrible breakfast you would’ve eaten to be nice.” 

Ben leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes “Why is there even a Medium Place.” 

“Me,” Mindy said as she took a sip of the coffee that she hadn’t offered to anybody “I got this great idea for a charity while flying high on cocaine, withdrew my savings, died, and inadvertently founded a revolutionary organization.” 

“But you really didn’t,” Ben said, perking back up. 

“The people who keep track of points didn’t know what to do with me, so they made this place.”—she sipped her coffee— “I thought everybody in the Bad Place knew about this?” 

“I’m human.” 

Mindy spat some coffee back in her cup “Excuse me?” 

“We,” Micheal stepped in “Are deviants wanting time fix the system.” 

“Never thought I’d see the great Trevor do anything good.” 

Ben blinked “My name’s Ben.” 

Mindy sighed and grabbed a VHS. 

\- 

“I am still in the Bad Place.” Ben said flatly. 

Micheal fidgeted. Things were going too fast. Ben was shutting down “You really aren’t.” 

“I’m dead. I’m in hiding. I’m apparently running from someone who looks exactly like me!”—Ben pointed around the TV— “How is this not torture?” 

“We just need to find what’s wrong with the points system and this all will be fixed.” 

“Then we should go where they count the points and see if they know what’s wrong. I was an auditor; I might be able to figure out what’s going wrong and leave all of this behind.” 

Everyone was silent for a minute. 

“I think you should follow that plan and remember, anytime you need me, bring cocaine.”


	4. Welcome to the Void

“Alright, Ben,” Micheal said as the train pulled up to the station “Let’s go.” 

Ben stared straight forward. 

“Ben?” Micheal poked Ben. 

“He’s in shock, Micheal. It happens after overstimulation.” 

“We can’t just leave him here. Janet, can you carry him?” 

“No.” 

“Oh.” 

“But I might be able to keep him in my Void temporarily. That way we could get the records while he processes the information.” 

“You can do that?” 

“Maybe not 400 reboots ago.” 

“You know about that?” 

“Micheal, leaving the neighborhood has let me receive updates from all the other Janets. It didn’t take long to realize something was up.” 

Micheal sighed “I just wanted to be good at my job.” 

“I know, Micheal,”—Janet put her hand on Micheal’s shoulder— “and I forgive you.” 

Janet put her other hand on Ben, and he vanished with a ping. 

\- 

Ben stared up at the Void. He was lying down, but he didn’t remember every getting in that position, only wanting to. 

There was an infinite light and calm here, more like how he’d imagined the afterlife. He ran through the list of differences in his head: no fake soulmates, no conspiracies against him, no all powerful accountants, no confusion. 

No people either. 

He sighed. He’d been alone these past few weeks, mourning himself and his life on earth with Leslie. 

_Leslie._

__If he could see Leslie just one more time…_ _

__A screen appeared above him. He saw Leslie sitting at her desk, working on her next big idea._ _

__“Leslie?”_ _

__“Hello, how may I—” Leslie looked Ben straight in the eyes and froze “Who are you?”_ _

__“Leslie,” Ben stared not knowing what to say. The screen disappeared and he found Janet standing over him._ _

__“What are you doing?” Janet snapped “My Void is highly unstable with a human in it. I can’t have you conjuring things.”_ _

__“I didn’t mean to. I just thought about Leslie and—”_ _

__“I just need you to stay here and process everything while we get the books. If you keep trying to conjure things or look at earth this place _will _collapse. Okay?”___ _

___“Okay.”_ _ _

___“Good.” Janet’s smile returned as she pinged herself away, leaving Ben in the nothing._ _ _

___-_ _ _

___Ben saw a tube of swirling colors before being shot out of Janet with a flash. He looked around to find himself among thousands and thousands of cubicles. Not knowing where he was had become a common thing._ _ _

___Micheal grabbed Ben’s arm “Run.”_ _ _

___Ben found himself being dragged into a side office with two tubes at the end, one red and one green._ _ _

___Micheal pushed Ben under the green tube._ _ _

___“Hey, Ben,”—Micheal put a leatherbound book into Ben’s hands— “I need you to stay calm and test this out for me.”_ _ _

___“This is a bad idea if you need a guinea pig for—”_ _ _

___Ben felt wind rush past him as his feet left the ground._ _ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Didn’t want to describe the Accounting Office in detail because y’all likely saw the episode. Thanks for reading!


	5. Welcome to the Real Good Place

The tube trip was instantaneous. Getting out of the mail chute was not. 

“What was that?” Ben asked as he rose from the floor. 

“It was a transport tube,” Micheal said as Janet was spat out of the now open chute, landing neatly on her heels “We needed to get out of there, and it was the only way.” 

Ben took a deep breath in and smelt JJ’s waffles and Leslie’s vanilla perfume. 

Ben snapped around and took another whiff, half expecting to be in Pawnee again. Instead, he was in the foyer of a cosy house. 

“Welcome, Ben, to the Good Place,” Micheal put his hand on Ben’s shoulder “The _Real _Good Place. This is where I believe you should be, and this,”—Micheal held up a hefty leather bound book— “Is how we’re going to prove it.”__

__“You figured it out?”_ _

__“While you were in the Void, I was able to talk to the Accountant. The problem is that the world is too complex and every good deep ends up nullified or counterproductive.”_ _

__“Do I hear voices!”_ _

__All turned to find an African-American woman in a postwoman’s uniform. “Are you guys supposed to be here?”_ _

__“Um, yes, we, um,” Micheal stuttered._ _

__“I’m just messing with you,” the woman grinned “Of course you guys are supposed to be here. Nobody who isn’t is.”_ _

__“That is true. I’m from accounting and I just wanted to pop on over and say hello during my break. I’ve never actually seen the other side of the tube.”_ _

__“Well it is great to meet you. I’m Gwendolyn. I work here!”_ _

__“And I work down there!” Micheal pointed to the mail chute “Just curious. Are there any other ways to get here from Accounting directly.”_ _

__“Nope, just that chute.”_ _

__“It’s a good thing I took it then. Let’s go find somewhere to sit and talk away from the chute.”_ _

__Micheal wrapped his arm around Gwendolyn before turning to Ben and Janet with a nod._ _

__Janet held out her hand, glowing red with heat, and placed it on the iron chute, fusing the door to the unit in seconds._ _

__._ _

__Janet and Ben sat on the most comfortable couch to ever exist (with the exception of any couch you can take a nap on, of course). Ben hung his head at his hands. He saw Leslie in Janet’s head… and Leslie didn’t recognize him._ _

__“Janet.”_ _

__“Yes.”_ _

__“When I was in the Void…”_ _

__“You saw Leslie,” she finished “I have access to all the knowledge of everything happening on earth.”_ _

__“Could you tell me what Leslie is doing?”_ _

__“Eating waffles at JJ’s Diner.”_ _

__“That’s nice, but _how _is she doing...without me.”___ _

___“She had a bit of a breakdown coordinating your funeral. She’s been up for 70 and a half hours trying to get everything perfect.”_ _ _

___“That sounds like her. Do you think she’ll get over me?”_ _ _

___“From research into 400,000 books, pamphlets, and sayings about grief I have researched since the start of the sentence… she won’t.”_ _ _

___“Oh. I was expecting comfort.”_ _ _

___“But she will move on.”_ _ _

___Ben sighed. That would have to be good enough, he guessed, until she arrived._ _ _

___“Do you know when she’s going to die? Actually, don’t answer that. I don’t want to just sit there and wait for my wife to die like my dad did.”_ _ _

___“I do know, but I can’t tell you how long you’d have to wait.”_ _ _

___“Against you programming or something?”_ _ _

___“Not a robot,” Janet corrected “But time in the Afterlife doesn’t work the same way as it does on Earth. Time on earth moves in a line, one thing after the other. Meanwhile, Time in the Afterlife doubles back and loops around and ends up looking like this.” Janet pinged a whiteboard with ‘Jeremy Bearimy’ written on it in cursive script. “When you saw Leslie in the Void, he actually caught her three weeks before you met her.”_ _ _

___Ben let some weight off his shoulders. She couldn’t have recognized him if she didn’t know him. Then it hit him “Wait…” Ben made his dumb surprised face “I can go back to before I died and stop it from happening.”_ _ _

___“You would need Judge Gen to approve that, and she only accepts a handful of cases each Bearimy.”_ _ _

___“I can wait. It doesn’t matter how long I wait if I get to go back to Leslie.”_ _ _

___Janet went quiet._ _ _

___They heard footsteps approaching and found Micheal standing in the doorway._ _ _

___“I think I have a case for the Judge.”_ _ _


	6. Welcome to the Judge's Chambers

Ben stared at the data floating in front of him. He had only been given bits and pieces (“Only the stuff he can fathom” Micheal had said) but he could see that, even without errors in the numbers, there were clear flaws Micheal had told him about. 

He flicked his wrist and the data disappeared, forcing him to look at the chambers of Judge Jen. They looked like regular earth chambers, grey walls, wooden desk, general daunting atmosphere. 

Ben saw a blue swirl open itself in the middle of the room. From the swirl emerged an ambiguous woman with brown ringlets and black robes. 

“Your Honor,” Ben began. 

Gen threw up her finger “Not until the Bad Place sends their representatives.” 

“That would be us.” 

Ben did a one-eighty to find an average looking middle-aged man in a suit, but it was the man to the right that shocked Ben. 

Ben saw himself distorted in a mirror, a grimace against a five o’clock shadow, leather on a lanky body, eyes that screamed like the people he’d tortured “Hey, Dweep, got tired of losing Catan I see.” 

“I don’t lose Catan; I’m nationally ranked.” Ben didn’t quite know if that was meant to be a defense, but he couldn’t think. Only look into Other Ben’s eyes. 

“Name’s Trevor,” the doppelganger took his hand out of his jacket pocket. 

“Nice to meet— _aaah _” Ben pulled his hand back the moment they touched. He looked down at his hands to find burns like he had touched a hot stove.__

__“Always fall for that, don’t you. Guess it’s all those memory wipes rotting your brain.”_ _

__“What are you—”_ _

__“Hey,” Micheal butted in “Let’s start the court proceedings.”_ _

__“I agree,” said the older man “I have butholes that need bees.”_ _

__Trevor grumbled as he made his way to the desk._ _

__-_ _

__Ben and Trevor sat together at the end of the table, tossed to the side like toddlers not allowed at the big kids table._ _

__“Don’t you love court torture,” Trevor whispered to Ben as the others chatted with the judge._ _

__“Don’t you mean courture?”_ _

__“Gag.”_ _

__“What, that was a good pun.”_ _

__“I work in the Bad Place; we _invented _puns, and that was the worst one I’ve ever heard.” a beat “I’ll need to tell Shawn over there later.”___ _

___Ben smiled as he got a better look at the man to his left. He couldn’t help but notice how calm Trevor was about their identical faces._ _ _

___“Does this happen a lot?”_ _ _

___“Court cases? No.”_ _ _

___“I mean the faces.”_ _ _

___“Yeah. The Makers of Time, The Universe, and Everything were not the most creative when it came to faces. They didn’t even make ten billion.”_ _ _

___“Comforting...I guess.”_ _ _

___“Not meant to be.”_ _ _

___Ben readjusted himself in his chair._ _ _

___“Your never going to get comfortable.”_ _ _

___“You don’t know that.”_ _ _

___“Yes, I do. You are sitting in a genuine Bad Place Bench. They are made to be just uncomfortable enough for you to think that you can get comfortable if you move, but no so uncomfortable that you stand up.”_ _ _

___Ben sighed “We should be listening to the proceedings and not talking.”_ _ _

___“God, your even more boring than last time.”_ _ _

___“You keep saying that we’ve met before, but I definitely would’ve remembered somebody with my face.”_ _ _

___Trevor turned to look at Ben with a grimace on his face “Micheal never told you?”_ _ _

___“He told me everything about the Bad Place,” Ben knew he was lying, but he couldn’t let Trevor know what he did and didn’t know._ _ _

___“You went through hundreds of reboots, mind wipes, the works.”_ _ _

___“Impossible,” a beat “Maybe possible—why am I even listening to you? You’re a demon?”_ _ _

___“But aren’t I pretty?”_ _ _

___-_ _ _

___“I’ve come to a ruling,” the Judge announced, snapping Ben out of his own head._ _ _

___Trevor and Ben made their way from the benches toward the Judge._ _ _

___“Micheal’s evidence that humans can become better is promising, but it will need to be tested back on earth. Ben, we will be sending you back to earth to try again once an Accountant can be assigned to keep track of your points specifically.”_ _ _

___Ben’s face lit up. Back to Earth. Back to Leslie. Back to Life!_ _ _

___“Your memory will be wiped to ensure there in order to not negate your good actions.”_ _ _

___“What?”_ _ _

___“But they will be returned to you upon arrival back in the Afterlife. Do you understand.”_ _ _

___“Yes, Your Honor.”_ _ _

___“Good. Now, if you excuse me, I’m going to get back to The Bachelor.” The portal opened up again, and the Judge left.”_ _ _

___Ben closed his eyes and revelled in the moment. It would all be over soon._ _ _

___“Guess you got your shot again.”_ _ _

___Ben’s eyes snapped open at the sound of Trevor._ _ _

___“Blows for us, but we’ll make it work. We always do.”_ _ _

___-_ _ _

___Ben didn’t sleep. He could sleep when he was alive._ _ _

___He smiled to himself at the irony of that last part as he stood in front of the door to Earth with Micheal and Janet. He smiled at the grumpy Gatekeeper behind the desk._ _ _

___“Now, Ben, you aren’t going to remember this, but I believe in you,” Micheal put his hand awkwardly on Ben’s shoulder “Okay?”_ _ _

___“Thanks.”_ _ _

___Ben reached out to open the door to Earth. Instead of finding the expected swirls, he only saw black nothingness._ _ _

___“Is it supposed to look like this?”_ _ _

___“Oh no,” Micheal turned to Janet “Get the Judge.”_ _ _

___Janet pinged away and returned with the Judge._ _ _

___“What? I let you have your chance so what’s wrong?” the Judge looked at the door “That is new.”_ _ _

___“What does it mean?”_ _ _

___“It seems you weren’t dead but only braindead—common mistake really—according to this, you just woke up at the Pawnee Lutheran Hospital.”_ _ _

___“What’s that supposed to mean?”_ _ _

___“It means that your body is already in use on Earth.”_ _ _

___“But I’m not on Earth.”_ _ _

___The Judge put her hand out a glass tube with parchment fell out of the sky. She opened the tube and glanced at the file “I see the issue. Trevor was mistakenly put into your body yesterday. We can send someone to go grab him?”_ _ _

___“I’ll get him. I’m Bad Place; I know how they work.” –he turned to Ben— “I’m sorry, but this may take a while.”_ _ _

___Ben sat down on the bridge against the Gatekeeper’s desk, “I’ll be right here.”_ _ _

___Ben watched Micheal grab the frog keychain of the keys before stepping through the swirling blue._ _ _

____Right here. _____ _


	7. Welcome to Pawnee

Leslie Knope laid in her half of the bed, staring at the clock.

_12:07 a.m._

__She groaned. She had always been an insomniac, but, for once in her life, she wished she was asleep rather than awake._ _

__It made things easier._ _

__She stared at the door. She had asked Ron to install deadbolts on it, and he had silently obliged. She had stupidly thought it would ease her paranoia, but that only helped with the images. She could still hear the sound of the bullet over the whitenoise machine; she could still hear Ben hitting the floor._ _

__Leslie cried as it replayed in her head again._ _

__-_ _

_Ben crawled into bed beside Leslie, still filling out paperwork from that morning._

__

__

_“Can you believe the kind of clerical errors that happen nowadays? Ethel accused me of filling out the form wrong. Me, filling out a form wrong.”_

__

__

_“Impossible.”_

__

__

_Ben went to turn his lamp off when his wife stopped him._

__

__

_“Wait,” they froze “Do you hear that?”_

__

__

_Ben heard rummaging in the other room._

__

__

_“I think it's a racoon,” Leslie whispered. The racoons in Pawnee where a different breed. No matter how good you thought your security was, they could always get in somehow “Should we call April?”_

__

__

_“No, I got it,” Ben stumbled back out of bed and grabbed the bat he kept by the door for these situations._

__

__

_Ben rounded the door and flicked on the hall light._

__

__

_“Leslie!”_

__

__

_Bang._

__

__

_Thud._

__

__

_Leslie leapt out of bed and into the hall. To find Ben on the ground, wide eyed at his red gut._

__

__

_“Ben!” Leslie ran to his side and pressed on the wound._

__

__

_“He just ran out. You can still catch him if—”_

__

__

_“That doesn’t matter, Ben, I need you to look at me okay.”_

__

__

_Ben nodded._

__

__

_“You’re going to be okay. Okay?”_

__

__

_Ben blinked slowly._

__

__

_“I’m calling 911. Stay with me, okay?”_

__

__

_Ben nodded slightly as he coughed up a few drops of blood._

__

__

_The sound of Ann’s ringtone snapped her out of her trance._

__

__

_“Hello.”_

__

__

_“Leslie,” Ann said in her trying-to-sound-calm voice “You need to get to the hospital...right now.”_

__

__

__

__

___-_ _ _

___Hospitals were different worlds after midnight._ _ _

___Leslie went on a forced march the elevator and pressed two for long term care. She had planned a funeral—had a funeral—but those were for the others. The others that told her there was no hope. The ones who said she shouldn’t be letting machines keep him alive. Well machines keep a lot of people alive. It was no different than being on dialysis when you thought about it the way she did._ _ _

___The doors slid open as she made her way to the room. The door was open and Ann was already there._ _ _

___She entered the room and saw him, sitting up, eyes open, alive._ _ _

___It was him._ _ _

___Leslie ran up to Ben and pushed herself into a drawn out kiss (making up for lost time she guessed)._ _ _

___She pulled away to find his face in a grimace (the drugs she guessed) and his facial hair had begun to grow in the past few weeks, but it was him._ _ _

___It was him._ _ _

___-_ _ _

___It’s strange how nurses always tell people coming out of comas to rest._ _ _

___Ben was given some drugs to sleep, giving Leslie a moment with Ann._ _ _

___“You were right,” Ann relented “We shouldn’t have had a funeral, but in context—”_ _ _

___“That’s not Ben,” Leslie spat out._ _ _

___“Excuse me.”_ _ _

___“The way he sits and looks. He didn’t make that dumb surprized face when he saw me.”_ _ _

___“Leslie, he’s just been through a traumatic experience. He’s bound to act differently, but that’s nothing some time and a shave isn’t going to fix.”_ _ _

___“I guess,” Leslie stared at her sleeping husband “It’s probably nothing.”_ _ _

___-_ _ _

___That evening, a mysterious guest in a summer suit managed to slip past the hospital check-in._ _ _

___Micheal entered the room of the once Ben Wyatt to find a resting Trevor._ _ _

___“I know you’re not sleeping, Trevor.”_ _ _

___Trevor opened his eyes and let his face distort “Micheal! What’s it been? Three Bearimys?”_ _ _

___“Cut the crap.”_ _ _

___“Ooh. Harsh without your human friend around.”_ _ _

___“You know the Judge isn’t going to allow this.”_ _ _

___“You of all people should know we don’t care about the Judge.”—Trevor said as he fiddled with a monitor wire— “Let loose a bit.”_ _ _

___“Why are you even doing this?”_ _ _

___“Well, for the Bad Place, they want to stall the Judge. For me? Fun. They could’ve put anybody in this body, but I volunteered.”_ _ _

___“Really? That is a new low.”_ _ _

___“What can I say? I have a thing for blondes.” Trevor stared at his cord “If you keep pushing this Micheal, things may start to happen.”_ _ _

___“Knock it off.”_ _ _

___“I’m serious. It would be a shame if that little blonde in the other room where too”—Trevor tugged the wire out machine, causing the heart monitor to flat line. He grinned back at Micheal— “You best leave before the nurses arrive.”_ _ _

___Micheal slipped past the rushing nurses and a little blond woman not too distracted to notice him leaving._ _ _


	8. Welcome to the Land of the Living

Micheal stepped through the door to the afterlife. 

Ben shot up from the ground “Where is he?” 

Micheal swallowed “Yes, he’s, uh...” he trailed off. “You know, the Judge actually wanted us both to get him and—” 

Ben turned to the still open door and made a break for it. 

\- 

Trevor was introduced to all of Ben’s friends the next morning, and, in his opinion, they were all losers. He liked April, though, perfectly cynical in every way. 

He smiled as Andy told some dumb story. He had never actually seen live humans. He was a millennial (only been torturing about a thousand years), so he wasn’t around when any of the plagues of crusades were going on like Shawn and Micheal. 

“...then Jerry sat on the _second _cake! Isn’t that hilarious?”__

__“I’d love to have seen that,” Trevor said before looking past Andy to see Leslie hanging by the wall “I’m kind of tired. Could he finish this up tomorrow?”_ _

__“Yeah, yeah, ‘course,” Andy smiled “I’m just happy you’re awake.”_ _

__He and Leslie watched Andy leave and were silent until the door clicked shut._ _

__“Andy sure did miss you,” Leslie said, leaning awkwardly on the wall._ _

__“Not as much as I hope you did,” Trevor held out his arms and Leslie made her way toward him._ _

__“I just wasn’t expecting this,” Leslie said, sitting beside him in the bed._ _

__“So,”—He tucked Leslie’s hair behind her ear— “Mrs. Wyatt didn’t expect me to wake up.”_ _

__Leslie froze, suddenly feeling in danger._ _

__“Everything okay, Babe?”_ _

__Leslie took a look a sly man living behind Ben’s eyes “I just wasn’t expecting this.”_ _

__-_ _

__Ben sprinted through the door as the feeling of air forcing its way into his lungs made him recoil._ _

__“Ben!”_ _

__Ben spin to see a frantic Micheal followed by a calmer Janet. The door dissolved behind them._ _

__“I have the keys.” Micheal gripped the key so that Ben only saw a frog keychain._ _

__“What’s the plan?”_ _

__“Run.”_ _

__Ben turned for the other half of the answer, only to get nothing “Okay then. This is a good start.” Ben took in his surroundings to find a seemingly endless forest, he shivered at the frigid air. “We aren’t in Pawnee.”_ _

__“That is correct. They tried to shut the door off before we arrived. This is the only place I could reach,” Janet chimed in._ _

__“Then where are we?”_ _

__“Unclear, I don’t have my knowledge when disconnected from the afterlife, but this is still Earth.”_ _

__“What now?” Ben looked between the two of them._ _

__Micheal straightened up “Pick a direction.”_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait. Just got around to watching the finale and boy... never thought a comedy could make me cry that much. Let me know what you think about the fic!


	9. Welcome to Doug's House

“I know this house,” Micheal said as he stared across the clearing in the forest. 

“What?” 

“This is Doug Forcett’s house. The most aware person to ever live.” 

Janet leaned between the two boys “We may be able to get help from him.” 

“Even if not,” Micheal smiled “We get to meet him.” 

\- 

“Ann,” Leslie said as she handed a coffee to Ann “Does Ben seem strange to you?” 

Ann Perkins took the drink before continuing to sort pills on the cart. She had been too busy lately to spend time with Leslie outside these quick coffee not- breaks (catching up for the days she took off to help her) “He’s been through a lot; being shot is bound to take a toll on someone.” 

“I know that, but he smiles differently.” 

“It’s probably just the drugs.” She put the last pill into the Dixie cup “Speaking if which, I need to start my rounds. Thanks for the coffee, Les.” 

\- 

Leslie approached Ben’s room to find an unknown voice. She put her ear to the door. 

“Relax, Shawn, she’s too happy to realize anything,” Ben said in a way too relaxed tone. 

“That may be true,” said the other voice (Shawn she guessed) “But there’s been a new development. Our Three Stooges escaped.” 

“Impossible.” 

“They took the keys behind them. It’s why I have to use this hunk of junk behind me.” A pause “You need to play your part and make sure she doesn’t see him. Got it.” 

Leslie froze, ear to the door _Got it _.__

__-_ _

__“I can help with anything,” Doug scurried to the bookshelf and took out an Atlas “I have a map I can give you. Do you need plane tickets?” Doug’s demeanor fell “But those CO2 emissions…”_ _

__The three sat awkwardly on the couch as Doug scurried around them._ _

__“Never meet your heroes,” Ben muttered to Micheal as he bit into a radish._ _


	10. Welcome to Discovery

Chapter 10

Ben Wyatt sat in one of the back cars of an electric train. It was the best that Doug could do: fast with no CO2 emissions.

He stared out the window with Janet and Micheal across from him. Things had been going so fast these past few days...weeks…

_Jeremy Bearimy_ he thought.

How would people react to him suddenly back from the dead? Happy, yes, but how soon would fear set in? Would the Zorbies latch onto his second coming?

_What happens will happen_ he guessed _What happens will happen._

* * *

This was not happening. 

Leslie sat in the waiting room comparing every photo of Ben on her phone from before and after the incident, picking apart every subtle difference.

Other Ben smiled differently, he ruffled his hair in a more rebellious way, he hadn’t called her by a nickname once.

She should have known that he wasn’t Ben the moment she saw him. 

_You could just be paranoid_ a little voice in her head told her. She supposed it could have been right. Maybe she could test him? Trick him into saying her birthday, their anniversary, etc.

She sighed, anybody could find out those things, but one thing that she did know was that he couldn’t mimic behavior. The only way she could know if Other Ben was just her mind playing tricks was by what he did.

But that could take weeks, even months of noting every detail.

_Unless…_

An idea popped into her mind.

* * *

Leslie willed herself to enter Other Ben’s room.

“There you are,” he smiled “Check it out.”--he gestured at his face-- “Ann finally let me use a razor.”

“Almost look like your old self,” she said as she sat down at the foot of his bed.

“Just need a haircut and everything can go back to the way it was,” he grimaced at he began to mess with Leslie’s hair.

Leslie smiled. It was now or never “It might not.”

Other Ben’s face fell “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It’s too soon to know anything yet,” she said, ensuring she would have a CYA if it was the real him “I missed a period.”

Other Ben froze “What?”

“It may just be stress doing it, but if it wasn’t...”

“Yeah, yeah, just unexpected with your age.”

“It’s probably nothing,” Leslie breathed out, heart beginning to race.

“With everything on right now and both our careers,” Other Ben rubbed his brow.

“I should just go.”

“No, we should talk about this.”

“You know what, I should go buy a test.” She said getting up “We can talk about it later when you’re better and we know.”

“Yeah, yeah. This just complicates a lot of things.”

“I’ll be back in a bit,” Leslie said, stopping at the door to look back despite her better instinct “Just stay here and we will work this out.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Other Ben grinned “I love you.”

Leslie shut the door and ran.

* * *

Trevor’s grinned fell as the door shut itself.

She knew.

Trevor pushed the call button and Ann appeared.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“I’m fine. I just need to ask a favor of you.”

Ann looked confused “Okay?”

“Leslie just left, but she’s been acting funny. Could you follow her, make sure she’s okay.”

“Funny how?”

“It’s probably just the stress getting to her. I just want to make sure she’s safe. You’re her best friend; you can understand that?”

Ann thought for a moment “I can ask someone to pick up my shift.”

“Thanks, Ann,” he grinned “I’m so happy Leslie has a friend like you.”


	11. Welcome to Ramsett Park

Ramsett Park closed at 3:15, but no one was willing to kick Leslie Knope out. 

Leslie sat on the John Mellencamp Memorial bench. It had been commissioned when a false obituary was released back in the 80s, but the council never could bear to remove it. Some people in Pawnee still believe he is dead.

She stared at the lake, thinking about the false parallels. Ben had bordered on brain dead. She had asked Ann what to do, thinking that she could pull some experimental medical treatment out of a hat.

Ben had died, essentially, then he woke up and yelled “False alarm!” Now she wasn’t sure if she believed it.

She let herself cry. 

An arm appeared around her. Leslie looked up to find Ann.

“Ann you beautiful caring goddess of a friend,” Leslie sniffled “You followed me didn’t you.”

“I had to bribe the park rangers with paunch burgers with donuts instead of buns, but I had to make sure you were okay.”

“I can’t go back in there.”

“I know it can be hard to see Ben so hurt--”

“It’s not Ben,” Leslie blurted out, happy to have it off her chest.

Ann looked puzzled “Is this about him acting a little differently, because he’ll be back to his old self soon.”

“It’s not that, Ann,” she shifted in her chair. She knew how what she said sounded, but this was Ann she was talking to. Ann would understand “I don’t think it’s Ben in there.”

Ann gave a difficult to read face as she contemplated her words. She had vague training on how to handle people going through a break, but she had never actually had to use it.

“What makes you say that?”

“He’s smug, he’s pervy, he’s...just not him,” Leslie snapped.

“Leslie, I need you to listen to me. I want to help, but I can’t help here. Let’s go back to the hospital and sort this out.”

Leslie shook her head. “I can’t do that, Ann.”

“Let’s forget the hospital; let’s go to my place, relax, have a girls night.”

Leslie turned her gaze away. She looked up the path.

“How does that sound?”

Leslie bolted.

* * *

Ben hopped off the train a little past four. He took a deep breath of the air pollution from the Sweetums Factory.

 _Home_.

Micheal walked up beside him “So, where’s your house from here?”

“North of here, but our best chance of finding Leslie is to go to the city hall, it's only a few miles; we can walk,” he turned to Janet “Could you check the hospital while we go to the building?”

Janet nodded “I still have the address of every building on earth in my head.”

Ben nodded “Let’s go find Leslie.”

* * *

Ben entered the Pawnee City Hall building and made his way to the Park Department. Everything felt so familiar and comforting. For a second, he forgot it was anything but another day at work.

Ron’s yelling snapped him out of it.

“Good God, son!” Ron cried, voice billowing through the glass as he got up.

Everyone else perked up and turned their gaze to Ron as he got up from his chair.

“What are you doing upright?”

Everyone’s gazes switched to Ben.

“I understand the desire to avoid the hospital at all cost and take it like a man,” Ron said, standing in front of Ben “But you should still have a cane, at least.”

“I can explain later. Where is Leslie?”

“She’s at the hospital, with you I thought.”

The phone began to ring, but they both ignored it.

“I don’t have my phone, could you call her for me?”

Ron pulled out his flip phone and dialed Leslie.

“Straight to voicemail.”

“Ben,” both turned to April “Somebody’s asking for you.”

“Tell her I’m dead.”

“I did, and she just said she’s Janet.”

Ben ran for the phone.

“Janet!”

“I asked the hospital and Leslie left about an hour ago.”

Ben thought for a second “Ask if I’m there.”

A pause.

“You checked yourself out against wishes.”

“Try asking for Ann Perkins.”

A pause.

“She left just behind Leslie.”

Ben snapped his head to Ron “Call Ann!”

Ron dialed Ann and handed the phone to Ben.

“Ann, it’s Ben, are you with Leslie?”

“I followed her like you asked, but I lost her in Ramsett park.”

Ben froze.

“Thanks, Ann.”

He hung up and switched back to Janet.

“Janet, I need you to meet me at Ramsett Park.”

“Got it.”

He hung up on Janet and made his way to the exit.

“Where are you going?” Ron yelled.

“Ramsett Park and you’re not stopping me.”

“Is Leslie in danger?” Ron said flatly.

Ben nodded.

Ron walked into his office and came out with two shotguns.

“I’m driving.”


	12. Climax in Ramsett Park

Ron pulled straight through the gates of Ramsett Park, barely a scratch on his truck. The way he saw it, it was an excuse to say “Screw you” to the government while saving his friend.

He hadn’t asked about the other man in a summer suit. It was none of his business who his workplace proximity associates' friends were. 

Ben was grateful for this. He had thought of how to explain what had happened to everybody, but he had never come up with an answer. Micheal had not made things easier when he explained that Ben could not explain _anything_ without nullifying people’s points.

They pulled over when they found Ann at the side of the path.

“Ron? What the hell are you doing here?” Ann froze “Ben!”

Ben exited the truck, followed by Micheal.

“Ben you shouldn’t be out of the hospital--or even able to stand!” she looked Ben over “Show me your stomach.”

“What?”

“I need to check your bandages,” she pulled up his shirt to find Ben’s pristine belly “That’s impossible; I redressed you this morning.”

“It wasn’t me,” Ben said, putting his hand on Ann’s shoulders “I can’t tell you why, but the man in the bed--”

“Isn’t you,” Ann cut off “That’s what Leslie said before she ran: she said that she didn’t think it was you in there.”

“Where did she run?”

“Just up the path. I tried to follow her, but my stupid nurse shoes made me trip and lose her.”

Ben turned to the group “Listen, we need to find Leslie before the...other me does. Ron, how are your manhunting skills?”

“Flawless.”

“Good. You come with Ann and I. Micheal?”

Micheal perked up “Please don’t give me the gun.”

“Wait here for Janet.”

“Thank you so much,” he breathed as he clutched his hand to his chest.

“Yell if you see anyone.”

Ben looked up the path “Let’s find Leslie.”

* * *

Leslie didn’t know what she was doing. Sure, she had all the survival skills memorized from her camping escapades with the office, but she couldn’t stay out here forever. People would find her, reunite her and Other Ben, and send her to therapy so she could see that this was all caused by stress.

She put her head in her hands as she sat down on a log. She should by his bedside, not in the wilderness doubting her own sanity. 

She looked up at the trees. She had always used the outdoors as an escape, so it had only made sense that she would enter the parks department to give the outdoors to other people. She worked her job, met Ben, made a life with him. She had a plan, but no plan was perfect.

What had she even planned to do? Live out here?

She got up. One part of her screamed stay, one part screamed go back. It is Ben; It isn’t Ben. Safe. Danger. Stay. Go.

“Leslie!” she heard in the distance. It sounded like Ann. 

Leslie got up, she would go to Ann and make a plan.

There was rustling in the bushes. She turned to find the face of her husband emerging from the bushes.

“Leslie, you’re okay!” he pulled her into a hug and squeezed her tight.

“Ben,” she whimpered. It took all her will not to run.

She heard more rustling and cocked her head up the path to see Ann.

“Leslie!” she yelled “Get back!”

Another Ben came in front of Ann, shotgun at his hip..

It hit Leslie.

She was right.

The arms of Other Ben tightened around her and jerked her between him and the others, making her a human shield.

“You aren’t getting her, Trevor!” Ben yelled as he brought the gun to his shoulder.

“We already have her. If you go back, drop the case, then we might just let her go.”

“You can die here!” Ben tried to be intimidating, but Leslie and Trevor both could see his weapon shaking.

“So could she,” Trevor snickered “Or have you suddenly learned how to shoot one of those things?”

_Bang._


	13. Epilogue

Everyone turned up the path to find Ron, poised with a smoking gun to his shoulder.

Trevor dropped to the ground, a new red hole in his shoulder.

“Next time you want to use someone as a human shield,” Ron grinned “Choose someone without a height difference.”

Leslie stared at her friends then at Ben.

He had that dumb surprized face, like he couldn’t believe she was actually there, and that’s how she knew.

“It’s you,” she gasped “Real you, not other you.”

Ben ran up and pulled her into a hug, letting his fingers run through her blond locks. She started to sob in relief. Ben followed suit.

“You're alive,” Leslie pulled back to look at his face.

“I’m alive.”

“I knew it wasn’t you.”

Ben pulled her back in. There were things he could never explain to her, but she would manage. They were together, and the only question he would be able to answer was one they had to answer together:

_How should we spend the rest of our lives together?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're here! We made it! It took a few months, but we all got here together. Thank you all for reading and sticking with me!   
> -X


End file.
